Provincial bus ban won’t solve EDSA ‘carmageddon’: Revilla

Individuals, groups and organizations opposing the controversial EDSA Provincial Bus Ban earned the support of Sen. Bong Revilla after the veteran legislator said that the move will not resolve grueling traffic affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers.

Also present during the hearing were representatives from public and private sectors, local officials, major transport groups, commuters associations and transport economists.

Based on a data by MMDA, the standard speed of vehicles traversing EDSA is 60 kph, but at present, vehicles are limited to 19 kph which led to their decision to implement a provincial bus ban.

MMDA was scheduled to conduct a dry-run for the bus ban but it was suspended after the Quezon City RTC issues a temporary restraining order (TRO) on July 31 which caused massive traffic jam along EDSA.

Revilla also grilled MMDA and LTFRB today about their response to QC-RTC 223 which released a preliminary injunction regarding the bus ban. Other Lower House representatives also pointed out that the bus ban is a form of discrimination towards citizens hailing from provinces.

Revilla further added that the establishment of PITX has worsened the traffic situation for Cavitenos who travel to and from Manila everyday.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in their study revealed that excessive car volume is the main cause of the “carmageddon” in EDSA, comprising 72 percent of all vehicles using the highway. They also added that the local economy loses more than P 3.5 billion everyday due to traffic.

Revilla also questioned MMDA on why they are passing the blame on provincial buses when in fact, only 8,000 out of the estimated 400,000 vehicles pass through EDSA.